Coding and decoding a signal modified in accordance with the feedback states of an encoder

ABSTRACT

A data encoding system includes a modifier, an encoder, and a feedback. The modifier receives a first data stream and modifies the first data stream so as to provide a second data stream. The encoder encodes the second data stream in order to provide an output. At least a portion of the output has predetermined symbol values. A feedback from the encoder to the modifier provides encoder states to the modifier. The modifier modifies the first data stream based on the encoder states so as to facilitate the encoder in providing the portion of the output having the predetermined symbol values. A receiver receives a signal based on the output and decodes the signal.

RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

The following applications disclose subject matter claimed herein: (1) patent application Ser. No. 09/321,392, filed on May 27, 1999 entitled Trellis Coded Modulation System For Digital Television With Convolutionally Coded Data and Synchronization Symbols and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,310; (2) U.S. patent Application Ser. No. 09/321,294, filed on May 27, 1999 entitled Mode Identification for a Digital Signal Having Multiple Data Constellations Subject to Interference and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,493,402; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/236,994, filed on Jan. 26, 1999 entitled Digital Television System For Reducing Co-Channel Interference in 8 MHZ Channels and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,431; and, (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/321,798, filed on May 27, 1999 entitled Data Frame for 8 MHZ Channels and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,608,870. Also, the present application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/321,462, filed on May 27, 1999 entitled Viterbi Decoder For A Positive Comb Filtered Digital Television Signal and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,558.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

The present invention relates generally to digital transmission and reception systems and particularly to a digital data transmission and reception system having a data frame structure and circuit arrangement selected to facilitate operations such as symbol to byte and byte to symbol conversion, interleaving and deinterleaving, and forward error correction. The system also facilitates the use of a data rate that is related to the signal to noise ratio (S/N ratio) of the transmission environment for enhancing system capacity.

The present invention also relates to the use of trellis coded modulation (TCM) in transmission and reception systems and particularly concerns the use of TCM in high definition television (HDTV) applications.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,087,975 and 5,600,677 disclose a vestigial sideband (VSB) system for transmitting a television signal in the form of successive M-level symbols over a standard 6 MHZ television channel. The television signal may, for example, comprise one or two compressed wideband HDTV signals or a number of compressed lower resolution signals. While the number of levels, M, characterizing the symbols may vary depending on circumstances, the symbol rate is preferably fixed, such as at 10.76 Megasymbols/sec. The number of symbol levels used in any particular situation is largely a function of the S/N ratio characterizing the transmission medium. For example, where the S/N ratio is low, a smaller number of symbol levels may be used. It is believed that the ability to accommodate symbol levels of 16, 8, 8 with trellis coding (8 VSBT), 4, and 2 provides adequate flexibility to satisfy conditions in most systems. It will be appreciated that lower values of M can provide improved S/N ratio performance at the expense of reduced transmission bit rate. For example, assuming a rate of 10.76 Megasymbol/sec, a 2-level VSB signal (1 bit per symbol) provides a transmission bit rate of 10.76 Megabits/sec, a 4-level VSB signal (2 bits per symbol) provides a transmission bit rate of 21.52 Megabits/sec, and so on up to a 16-level VSB signal which provides a transmission bit rate of about 43.04 Megabits/sec.

It is generally known that the S/N ratio performance of cable television plants decreases as the signal (channel) frequency increases. The foregoing attribute of an M-level VSB transmission system, i.e., improved S/N ratio performance as M decreases, is used in one aspect of the invention to compensate for the S/N ratio degradation in the higher frequency channels of CATV distribution plants. That is, according to this aspect of the invention, VSB transmission is effected in a CATV system wherein the lower frequency channels are transmitted using larger values of M. While the bit rate of the higher frequency channels is thereby reduced, the received signal may be reproduced with a S/N ratio comparable to that of the lower frequency channels.

It is also generally known that the S/N performance of digital signals broadcast over the air may be improved by TCM (trellis coded modulation). U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,600,677 and 5,583,889 describe an 8 level TCM coded VSB signal. A Viterbi decoder in the receiver is used in close cooperation with a comb filter (disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,975). The comb filter rejects co-channel interference caused by existing NTSC signals.

Moreover, in accordance with other aspects of the invention, system efficiency, particularly in relation to such operations as data interleaving and deinterleaving, symbol to byte and byte to symbol conversion, forward error correction, and Viterbi decoding, may be greatly enhanced by selecting a data frame structure which facilitates these operations within the constraints of the variable M-level VSB character and TCM coding parameters of the transmitted signal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,677,911 discloses a data frame structure for a 6 MHZ channel.

This application and the other copending applications described above adapt the previously disclosed VSB system so that it can be transmitted over standard 8 MHZ television channels (as used in China and Europe) with the ability to reject interference caused by existing PAL signals. In this system the symbol rate is preferably 14.14 Megasymbols/sec so that all bit rates increase proportionately.

Trellis coded modulation is a well known technique for improving the performance of digital transmission and reception systems. For example, improvements can be achieved in signal to noise (S/N) performance at a given power level; alternatively, the transmitted power required to achieve a given S/N performance can be reduced. In essence, TCM comprises the use of a multi-state convolutional encoder to convert each k input data bits of an input sequence of data bits into k+n output bits, and is therefore referred to as a rate k/(k+n) convolutional encoder. The output bits from the convolutional encoder are then mapped into discrete symbols (having 2^((k+n)) values) of a modulated carrier for data transmission. The symbols may, for example, comprise 2^((k+n)) phase or amplitude values. By encoding the input data bits in a state-dependent sequential manner, increased minimum Euclidean distances between the allowable transmitted sequences may be achieved leading to a reduced error probability when a maximum likelihood decoder (e.g., a Viterbi decoder) is used in the receiver.

FIG. 1 generally illustrates a system of the type described above. Each k bits of an input data stream is converted to k+n output bits by a rate k/(k+n) state-dependent sequential convolutional encoder 10. Each group of (k+n) output bits is then mapped by a mapper 12 to a symbol having a corresponding one of 2^((k+n)) levels. The symbols are transmitted over a selected channel by a transmitter 14. A receiver includes a tuner 16 for converting the signal received over the selected channel to an intermediate frequency signal, which is demodulated by a demodulator 18 to provide a baseband analog signal. The analog signal is appropriately sampled by an analog to digital converter (A/D) 20 in order to recover the transmitted symbols which are then applied to a Viterbi decoder 22 for recovering the original k data bits.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,975 also discloses the use of a receiver comb filter having a subtracting element and a feed forward delay of twelve symbol clock intervals for reducing NTSC co-channel interference in the receiver. In order to facilitate operation of the receiver comb filter, the source data is precoded by a modulo-filter having a feedback delay of twelve symbol clock intervals. (In the absence of significant NTSC co-channel interference, the receiver of the patented system may include a complementary modulo postcoder which is used to process the received signal in lieu of the comb filter in order to avoid the degradation of S/N performance attributable thereto.) A system using TCM and the above comb filter is disclosed in the ATSC digital television standard published on Sep. 16, 1995 and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,600,677 and 5,583,889.

In a system using TCM and a comb filter, each pair of input data bits is supplied to a precoder and trellis encoder. One of the bits in each pair of bits is supplied to the precoder, and the other of the bits in each pair of bits is supplied to the trellis encoder. The precoder and trellis encoder each incorporates one or more twelve bit delay elements. Thus, the precoder and trellis encoder may be envisioned as twelve identical precoders and trellis encoders with (i) an input commutator (i.e., demultiplexer) for sequentially connecting input sets of two bits to the twelve identical precoders and trellis encoders and (ii) an output commutator (i.e., multiplexer) for sequentially connecting output sets of three bits to a symbol mapper.

The twelve precoders and trellis encoders interleave the bit pairs so that each bit pair in a first byte of data is processed by a first precoder and trellis encoder, so that each bit pair in a second byte of data is processed by a second precoder and trellis encoder, . . . and so that each bit pair in a twelfth byte of data is processed by a twelfth precoder and trellis encoder. Each subsequent sets of twelve bytes are similarly processed. The symbol mapper maps each set of three output bits to a symbol having a corresponding one of eight signal levels of an eight-level constellation. The resulting symbols are supplied to a multiplexer which adds synchronization symbols to the data symbols in order to structure the data and synchronization symbols in a frame.

A frame for a 6 MHZ channel is structured so that it has 313 segments. The first segment of a frame (a frame sync segment) includes (i) a segment sync portion containing four segment sync symbols and (ii) a field sync portion containing 828 pseudo-randomly generated field sync symbols. Each of the other 312 segments (data segments) includes (i) a segment sync portion containing four segment sync symbols and (ii) a data portion containing 828 symbols of data.

Thereafter, the symbols in the above described frame structure are transmitted, and are received by a receiver. The receiver includes the comb filter and a trellis decoder. The comb filter is present in order to filter out interference which may be caused by NTSC channels broadcast by nearby stations. The trellis decoder (such as a Viterbi decoder) is present in order to decode the symbols in the received frames into their corresponding original bit pairs. The trellis decoder is similar to the trellis encoder in that the trellis decoder processes the symbols of the same byte together. Thus, these symbols must enter the trellis decoder in the correct sequence.

The present application and the other copending applications mentioned above relate to a modification of the above 6 MHZ VSB system so that it will operate over standard 8 MHZ television channels and have the ability to reduce PAL co-channel interference. In the system of the present application, the symbol rate is preferably fixed at about 14.14 MHZ (instead of 10.76 MHZ). Also a nine way (instead of a twelve way) trellis encoding process is utilized, and the data frame consists of 289 segments (instead of 313 segments). Both the prior disclosed VSB system and the VSB system disclosed in the present application utilize multiple modes, which are described in Part I below, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,677,911.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon reading the following description in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of a conventional TCM system employing an optimal maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) Viterbi decoder;

FIG. 2A illustrates the novel data frame structure of the invention;

FIG. 2B illustrates the structure of the frame synchronization (FS) segment of the data frame of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 2C illustrates the structure of a data segment of the data frame of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3A is a chart showing the relationship of data constellation size to the other parameters of the invention;

FIG. 3B is a chart showing the relationship of TCM coding parameters to other parameters of the invention;

FIG. 4A is a simplified block diagram of a transmitter in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 4B is a chart illustrating an implementation of the byte to symbol converter portion of the byte to symbol converter and mapper 36 of the transmitter of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5 shows the operation of the byte to symbol converter and mapper of FIG. 4A when in the 8 VSBT mode;

FIG. 6 shows the operation of the data symbol interleaver 42 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 shows the operation of the convolutional encoder 44 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 illustrates a comb filter arrangement that may be used in connection with the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a receiver constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 10 is a more detailed showing of the data processor 68 of the receiver of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a more detailed showing of the operation of the symbol to byte converter 84 of FIG. 10 when the received signal is in 8 VSBT mode;

FIG. 12 is a more detailed showing of the nine way Viterbi decoder 90 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a more detailed showing of the symbol deinterleaver 94 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 shows the generation of priming symbols for non-TCM modes;

FIG. 15 a is a more detailed block diagram of a transmitter operating in 8 VSBT mode in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 15 b is a more detailed block diagram of a receiver operating in 8 VSBT mode in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates the nine way convolutional encoder 120 of FIG. 15 a in additional detail;

FIG. 17 illustrates a representative one of the convolutional encoder units of FIG. 16 in additional detail;

FIG. 18 illustrates a convolutional encoder which is an alternative to the nine way convolutional encoder shown in FIG. 17;

FIG. 19 illustrates the mapping function of the symbol mapper 122 of FIG. 15 a;

FIG. 20 is a state transition diagram for the convolutional encoder of FIG. 17;

FIG. 21 illustrates the state transitions that occur in the FIG. 17 encoder in order to output trellis encoded segment sync symbols;

FIG. 22 illustrates the 9×4 data symbol interleaver 116 of FIG. 15 a in additional detail;

FIG. 23 is a table showing the symbol occupancy of the nine convolutional encoders of FIG. 16;

FIG. 24 is a table illustrating the operation of the convolutional encoder of FIG. 17 in additional detail;

FIG. 25 is a trellis state transition diagram based upon the table of FIG. 24;

FIG. 26 illustrates the combination of the comb filter 132 and nine way Viterbi decoder 138 of FIG. 15 b operating in a comb filter enabled mode;

FIG. 27 is a useful equivalent circuit for the arrangement of FIG. 26;

FIG. 28 illustrates the nine way Viterbi decoder 138 of FIG. 15 b operating in a comb filter bypassed mode;

FIG. 29 is a functional block diagram of the optimal MLSE Viterbi decoders 166A-166I of FIG. 28 shown in additional detail;

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing a circuit which may be used in place of the optimal MLSE Viterbi decoder of FIG. 29 for recovering estimations of bits Y₁ and Y₂;

FIG. 31 is a functional block diagram of the optimal MLSE Viterbi decoders 166A-166I of FIGS. 26 and 27 shown in additional detail;

FIG. 32 is a table illustrating the operation of the TCM encoder of the invention including the effects introduced by the comb filter 132 of the receiver of FIG. 15 b;

FIG. 33 shows the resultant effect of combining two subsets in the comb filter 132 and the resultant cosets that arise;

FIG. 34 shows the seven cosets that occur in the table of FIG. 33;

FIG. 35 is a trellis state transition diagram based on the table of FIG. 32;

FIG. 36 is a functional block diagram of a Viterbi decoder programmed on the basis of the trellis diagram of FIG. 35;

FIG. 37 is a block diagram illustrating the use of the Viterbi decoder of FIG. 36 to recover estimations of transmitted bits X₁ and X₂;

FIG. 38 is another illustration of the nine way Viterbi decoder 45 of FIG. 15 b showing demultiplexer/multiplexer synchronization with frame sync; and,

FIG. 39 shows the symbol deinterleaver 142 of FIG. 15 b in additional detail.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following description consists of two main parts, Part I and Part II. Part I discusses a novel data frame structure. It also discusses a transmitter and receiver operation for all VSB modes (non-TCM coded and TCM coded) with reference to the TCM coding in only enough detail as needed to explain the data frame structure. Part II discusses a novel TCM coded mode and associated transmitter and receiver operation in detail.

Part I

The structure of the novel data frame of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 2A. The data frame, generally identified by reference numeral 24, comprises 289 segments. All segments contain 836 symbols.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the first segment of the data frame 24, which is identified as FS (frame synchronization), begins with a four symbol segment synchronization character 26, where each of the four symbols is a two level symbol. This character may be of the form disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,524. The next 823 symbols of the frame synchronization segment are also two level symbols and they include 700 symbols forming a pseudo random sequence frame synchronization code, 24 symbols for VSB mode identification that identifies the level M (e.g., 16, 8, 8T, 4, or 2) for the data and priming symbols (defined later in Part II) of the remaining 288 segments of the data frame 24, and reserved space for 99 symbols. The pseudo random sequence frame synchronization code is disclosed in the ATSC Digital Television Standard and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,269. (It should be noted that this patent discloses the use of three pseudo random sequences in the field sync signal as well as a 24 symbol VSB mode identification signal.) VSB mode identification is disclosed below. The last nine symbols of the FS segment are repeats of the last nine symbols of the last segment of the preceding frame, as discussed later in Part II.

The remaining 288 segments of the data frame 24 are data segments identified as DS0-DS287. As shown in FIG. 2C, a data segment begins with the same two level, four symbol segment synchronization character 26 as is used in the FS segment. This segment synchronization character is followed by 832 symbols consisting of 828 data symbols and four priming symbols. The four priming symbols assume a form discussed later in Part II.

As shown by the table of FIG. 3A, each data symbol of a data segment DS0-DS287 represents either 4 bits (M=16), 3 bits (M=8), 2 bits (M=4 or 8T), or 1 bit (M=2). Because there are a fixed number of data symbols per frame (288×828=238,464), the number of data bytes per frame will vary as shown. That is, each data frame 24 comprises 119,232 data bytes for VSB mode M=16; 89,424 data bytes for VSB mode M=8; 59,616 data bytes for VSB mode M=4 or 8T; and, 29,808 data bytes for VSB mode M=2. However, while the number of data bytes per frame varies depending on the VSB mode M, it will be observed that, for any particular value of M (16, 8, 8T, 4 or 2), an integral number of bytes is provided in each data frame 24. This characteristic of the structure of the data frame 24 substantially simplifies the design of a receiver. As will be explained in further detail hereinafter, the receiver forward error correction circuitry, the receiver symbol to byte converter, and the receiver byte deinterleaver are preferably frame synchronized with the transmitted signal for all VSB modes, and the receiver Viterbi decoder and the data symbol deinterleaver are preferably frame synchronized for the 8 VSBT mode. The frame synchronization signal can be directly used for these purposes so long as there are an integral number of bytes, forward error correction blocks, and byte interleave groups in each data frame 24 for each of the VSB modes, and so long as there are an integral number of TCM coded groups (TCGs), which are defined below, and data symbol interleave groups (DSIGs), which are also defined below, in each data frame for the 8 VSBT mode.

Reed-Solomon (RS) forward error correction is used in the receiver of the invention. A standard transport packet size of 188 bytes has been established by the MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) committee. This packet may be reduced to 187 bytes by removing the MPEG synchronization byte due to the presence of the segment synchronization character 26. Adding 20 parity bytes to each such 187 byte transport packet results in an RS block size of 207 bytes, allowing for the correction of ten byte errors per RS block. As seen in FIG. 3A, an RS block size of 207 bytes advantageously results in an integral number of RS blocks per frame for all of the selected VSB modes, thereby allowing the receiver's RS decoder to be synchronized by the frame synchronization signal.

A convolutional byte interleave group size (B) is defined according to the invention as comprising B=54 data bytes (other values for B may be used) which also results in an integral number of byte interleave groups per frame regardless of the selected VSB mode, as shown in FIG. 3A. This convolutional byte interleave group size also allows the frame synchronization signal to be used to periodically synchronize the receiver deinterleaver, thereby simplifying receiver design.

With respect to the 8 VSBT mode and FIG. 3B, and as explained below in Part II, nine symbols at a time are convolutionally coded in parallel by nine separate convolutional encoders. These nine symbols may be called a TCM coded group (TCG). All 836 symbols (segment sync, data, and priming symbols) in each of the 288 data segments are TCM coded. Therefore, it can be seen from the following equation that there are an integral number of TCG's in the data frame 24: $\frac{\begin{matrix} \left( {288\quad{data}{\quad\quad}{segments}\quad{per}\quad{frame}} \right) \\ \left( {836\quad{symbols}{\quad\quad}{per}\quad{data}\quad{segment}} \right) \end{matrix}}{9\quad{symbols}\quad{per}\quad{TCG}} = {26,752\quad{TCGs}\quad{per}\quad{{frame}.}}$ This integral number of TCGs allows the frame synchronization signal to be used to periodically synchronize the Viterbi decoding process in the receiver.

Furthermore, with respect to the 8 VSBT mode, and as explained later in Part II, it is advantageous for data symbols associated with the same byte to be processed by the same one of the nine TCM encoders. This processing can be achieved for most symbols by using a 9×4 data symbol interleaver operating over 36 data symbols defined as a data symbol interleave group, DSIG. It is noted that only data symbols are interleaved in this manner. Priming and segment synchronization symbols are not included in this symbol interleaving. Accordingly, there are an integral number of DSIGs per data segment (828/36=23). Therefore, there are an integral number of DSIGs per frame: (828/36 DSIGs per data segment)×(288 data segments per frame)=6624 DSIGs per frame. This integral number of DSIGs allows the frame synchronization signal to be used to periodically synchronize the symbol deinterleaver in the receiver.

FIG. 4A is a simplified block diagram of a transmitter constructed in accordance with the invention. A data source 30 of television signals is coupled to a Reed-Solomon encoder 32 which feeds a convolutional data byte interleaver 34 which, in turn, supplies interleaved data bytes to a byte to symbol converter and mapper 36. It will be appreciated that the data source 30 may supply a compressed HDTV signal (or two compressed HDTV signals depending on the VSB mode) or a number of compressed standard definition signals. The symbol output of the byte to symbol converter and mapper 36 is supplied to a frame formatter 38 which is controlled, along with the byte to symbol converter and mapper 36, by a VSB mode control signal. The formatted frames, which conform to the arrangement previously described in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3, are supplied to a VSB modulator 40 for transmission over an 8 MHZ television channel. The transmission medium may comprise a cable television plant or a terrestrial broadcast environment. In either case, one such transmitter is required for each transmitted 8 MHZ channel.

The byte to symbol converter and mapper 36 has two modes of operation: one for the non-TCM modes, and another for 8 VSBT. A mode chart is shown in FIG. 4B. For the non-TCM modes, the chart comprises four columns, one for each of the VSB modes M=16, M=8, M=4 and M=2. The byte to symbol converter and mapper 36 is operative in response to the applied VSB mode control signal for converting the input data bytes to output data symbols according to the appropriate column of the chart of FIG. 4B. For example, for VSB mode M=16, the input data byte 11010101 would be converted to two successive data symbols having corresponding relative amplitudes of +88 and −40. For VSB mode M=8, this input data byte would be converted to three successive data symbols having corresponding relative amplitudes of +80, +48 and −16 (assuming the first bit of the next data byte is 1) or +80, +48 and −48 (assuming the first bit of the next data byte is 0). For VSB mode M=4, this data byte would be converted to four successive symbols having corresponding relative amplitudes of +96, −32, −32 and −32. For VSB mode M=2, eight output symbols would be provided at relative amplitudes +64, +64, −64, +64, −64, +64, −64 and +64. For VSB mode M=8T, the data byte would be converted to four successive 8 level symbols in a complex manner described in detail later in Part II and now briefly in connection with FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 shows the operation of the byte to symbol converter and mapper 36 of FIG. 4A when in the 8 VSBT mode. Interleaved data bytes are input to a data symbol interleaver 42 which breaks the data bytes into two bit uncoded data symbols and performs a nine way symbol interleave. Then, based on the states of convolutional encoders (discussed later in Part II) in a nine way convolutional encoder 44, uncoded priming (P) and uncoded segment synchronization (S) symbols are inserted into the stream at appropriate points by a symbol inserter 46. The nine way convolutional encoder 44 encodes the combination of priming symbols, segment synchronization symbols, and data symbols for the 288 data segments of the data frame 24. That is, the nine way convolutional encoder 44 encodes each two input bits as three convolutionally encoded bits. The output of the nine way convolutional encoder 44 is coupled to a mapper 48 which maps each convolutionally encoded three bits into a symbol having one of eight output levels (see FIG. 4B, second column). Then, for every 289^(th) segment, a frame synchronization segment FS is inserted by the frame formatter 38.

As shown in FIG. 6, interleaved data bytes are input to the data symbol interleaver 42 (which is preferably a 9×4 symbol interleaver). An input commutator 50 steps one place for each byte. Each data byte consists of four two-bit symbols designated [X₀X₁X₂X₃]. A data segment contains 207 data bytes (828 data symbols). A segment of data bytes input to the data symbol interleaver 42, each composed of four two-bit symbols, can be designated as:

-   -   [0₀0₁0₂0₃] [1₀1₁1₂1₃] [2₀2₁2₂2₃]. . . [206₀206₁206₂206₃]

The data symbol interleaver 42 outputs symbols as an output commutator 52 steps one place for each symbol. A cycle for the data symbol interleaver 42 is defined as a nine step sweep of the input commutator 50 (inputting a byte at each step) followed by four nine step sweeps of the output commutator 52 (outputting a symbol at each step). Thus each cycle interleaves 36 symbols (nine complete bytes). There are 828/36=23 cycles per data segment (288×23=6624 cycles per data frame). At the start of every data frame 24 and at the start of every data segment, both the input commutator 50 and the output commutator 52 are set to their top positions in order to begin the first cycle of the data segment. The data symbol output ordering from the output commutator 52 of the data symbol interleaver 42 for a data segment (not including the priming symbols and the segment sync symbols which are added by the symbol inserter 46) is:

-   -   . . . 0₀1₀2₀3₀4₀5₀6₀7₀8₀0₁1₁2₁3₁. . . 7₃8₃9₀10₀. . . 17₀9₁10₁. .         . 206₂198₃199₃200₃201₃202₃203₃204₃205₃206₃. . .

Following the symbol interleaving, the uncoded priming and segment synchronization symbols are inserted by the symbol inserter 46 at the proper points in the stream. Every data segment of 828 data symbols is preceded by four uncoded synchronization symbols. Also, four uncoded priming symbols are inserted just before the last five data symbols of the segment. This arrangement results in a nine symbol spacing between the priming and corresponding segment synchronization symbols so that they will enter the same convolutional encoder 44A-44I of the nine way convolutional encoder 44 shown in more detail in FIG. 7. The values for the priming and synchronization symbols, as further explained later in Part II, are determined by the current state of the convolutional encoder 44A-44I (one of nine) that they will enter. The symbol ordering at the output of the symbol inserter 46 for a complete data segment is:

-   -   . . . S₀S₁S₂S₃0₀1₀2₀3₀4₀5₀6₀7₀8₀0₁1₁2₁3₁. . .         206₂198₃199₃200₃201₃P₀P₁P₂P₃202₃203₃204₃205₃206₃. . .

As shown in FIG. 7, an input commutator 54 and an output commutator 56 of the nine way convolutional encoder 44 switch together on every symbol. A cycle may be defined as nine steps of the input and output commutators 54 and 56. If both the input and output commutators 54 and 56 are at the top position at the start of the first data segment of a data frame, then after nine segments (836 cycles), the input and output commutators 54 and 56 will again be at their top positions coincident with the start of a segment. Because there are 288 data segments per frame, and because 288/9=32, which is an integer, the input and output commutators 54 and 56 will be at their top position at the start of every subsequent data frame 24. This operation may facilitate hardware design in the transmitter and receiver. The symbol ordering into and out of the 9 way trellis encoder 44 does not change.

The purpose of the previously described symbol interleaver 42 is to put the data symbols in an order so that those data symbols associated with a given byte pass through the same convolutional encoder (and same Viterbi decoder in the receiver). This “byte packing” has been found to be advantageous in suppressing certain impairments. If a given Viterbi decoder has an uncorrectable error, it tends to spread the error to subsequent symbols. If symbols from the same byte are packed into the same trellis decoder, fewer bytes on average are affected by the error spreading. More details on “byte packing” are presented in Part II below.

The outputs of the convolutional encoders 44A-44I are mapped by the mapper 48 (FIG. 5) to symbol levels according to the second column of FIG. 4B. Further details of each of the 9 convolutional encoder blocks 44A-44I (consisting of a convolutional coder and a mapper) are disclosed later in Part II.

The byte to symbol converter and mapper 36 feeds the frame formatter 38. For all VSB modes, the frame formatter 38 inserts the frame synchronization segment FS of 836 symbols into the symbol stream. This insertion occurs prior to every group of 288 data segments. The frame synchronization segment structure of FIG. 2B is given by the following:

-   -   [S₀S₁S₂S₃] [ATSC PN sequences] [VSB mode] [unspecified symbols]         [P₀P₁P₂P₃ddddd]

Symbols [S₀S₁S₂S₃] (there are four synchronization symbols) through the reserved symbols (there are 99 reserved symbols) are two level symbols. The symbols [S₀S₁S₂S₃] represent the segment synchronization waveform. The PN sequence, consisting of 700 symbols, may be the same as is disclosed in the ATSC Digital Television Standard for the ATSC 6 MHZ system. The VSB mode ID coding (there are 24 mode symbols) is similar to that of the ATSC 6 MHZ system and is described below. For the non-TCM modes, the last nine symbols of the frame synchronization segment are unspecified two level symbols. For 8 VSBT, the last nine symbols of the frame synchronization segment, [P₀P₁P₂P₃ddddd], are eight level symbols that are repeats of the last nine TCM coded symbols in the preceding data frame. There is no TCM or RS coding of frame synchronization symbols. It is noted that, in the 8 VSBT mode, the last nine frame synchronization symbols (repeat symbols) were already TCM coded during the previous segment.

In non-TCM modes, the four two-level segment synchronization symbols are inserted by the frame formatter 38 at the start of each data segment. Four priming symbols consisting of multilevel pseudo random data are inserted by the frame formatter 38 into each data segment prior to the last five data symbols. The priming symbols added to the stream by the frame formatter 38 for the case of non-TCM modes are generated by a PN (pseudo random number) sequence generator 104 and a PN mapper 106 shown in FIG. 14. The PN sequence generator 104 outputs a stream of pseudo random binary data to the PN mapper 106. The PN mapper 106 is also supplied with the VSB mode (2, 4, 8, or 16) of the signal being encoded. The PN mapper 106 operates according to FIG. 4B, and its output is used to generate priming symbols for the non-TCM modes. The priming symbols are discarded by the receiver.

In the 8 VSBT mode, segment synchronization and priming symbols have already been added to the stream by the symbol inserter 46, so these symbols are not added to any data segments by the frame formatter 38.

The VSB mode is indicated by the three bytes (24 two level symbols) following the PN sequences in the frame synchronization segment. The three bytes are as follows: 0000 111P, ABC{overscore (P)} {overscore (ABC)}1, and PABC {overscore (PABC)}, where the values of A, B, C, and P are given by the table below for the various modes. The third of these three bytes actually indicates the mode. The first two bytes are formed so that the mode may be read with the nine tap positive comb filter (see FIG. 8) enabled or bypassed. The values of A, B, C, and P for each mode are shown in the following table:

TABLE 1 P A B C mode 0 0 0 0 2 VSB 1 0 0 1 4 VSB 1 0 1 0 8 VSB 0 0 1 1 reserved 1 1 0 0 16 VSB 0 1 0 1 8 VSBT 0 1 1 0 reserved 1 1 1 1 reserved

VSB receivers that utilize a comb filter for rejecting co-channel interference have been disclosed in the '975 patent referenced above and in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/236,994, filed on Jan. 26, 1999. The use of two processing paths within a receiver, one path utilizing the comb filter and the other path bypassing the comb filter, with path selection determined by the presence of an interfering signal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,793.

In the present invention, the receiver (as explained in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/236,994, filed on Jan. 26, 1999) uses a nine tap feed forward comb filter 58 with a summing element 60 and a nine symbol delay 61 as shown in FIG. 8. If the comb filter 58 is bypassed in the receiver, the VSB mode may be easily determined according to Table 1 above. If the comb filter 58 is not bypassed, the symbols will be altered by the summing element 60 in the comb filter 58. As shown above, each symbol of the third mode byte is preceded by a symbol of the same value nine symbols earlier. This mode symbol arrangement allows for easy determination of the mode even if the comb filter is enabled. For example, if it is assumed that the VSB mode is 8 VSBT, the symbol levels for the transmitted three byte mode field would be as follows:

-   -   −5−5−5−5+5+5+5−5+5−5+5+5−5+5−5+5−5+5−5+5+5−5+5−5         These correspond to binary bits:     -   0000 1110 1011 0101 0101 1010         The last eight symbols (bits) indicate that the mode is 8 VSBT.         If the comb filter is bypassed, these levels for the last eight         symbols are easily interpreted as 0's or 1's so that the VSB         mode can be determined.

If the comb filter is enabled, then the last eight filtered symbols output will be as follows:

-   -   −10+10−10+10+10−10+10−10         These are also easily interpreted as 0's or 1's producing the         same result as for the case of the comb filter bypassed. It         should be understood that this method will work for any of the         VSB modes.

In connection with the foregoing, it will be observed that the relative levels of the symbols of each VSB mode are evenly spaced and lie midway between the relative levels of selected symbols of all higher VSB modes. For example, relative level +112 of VSB mode M=8 lies midway between relative levels +120 and +104 of VSB mode M=16, relative level +96 of VSB mode M=4 lies midway between relative levels +112 and +80 of VSB mode M=8 and midway between relative levels +104 and +88 of VSB mode M=16, relative level +64 of VSB mode M=2 lies midway between relative levels +96 and +32 of VSB mode M=4, midway between relative levels +80 and +48 of VSB mode M=8, and midway between relative levels +72 and +56 of VSB mode M=16, and so on. Preferably the symbol levels are offset from the values shown by a predetermined amount (e.g., +20) prior to transmission in order to provide a small pilot for facilitating carrier acquisition in the receiver. Also, it will be observed that the data rate characterizing each VSB mode increases by one bit per symbol relative to the data rate of the immediately lower VSB mode, while its S/N ratio performance is reduced by one-half.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a receiver constructed according to the present invention.

The received RF television signal from the transmitter of FIG. 4A comprises an M-level VSB signal having the frame format of FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C. The received signal is converted to an IF frequency by a tuner 62, and the received signal at IF is applied to a VSB demodulator 64. The VSB demodulator 64 generates an analog baseband output signal comprising the M-level symbols at a rate of about 14.14 Megasymbols/sec. This analog signal is sampled by an analog to digital (A/D) converter 66 which converts the symbols to binary form and applies them to a data processor 68. The data processor 68 provides a feedback signal for controlling the analog to digital converter 66 to ensure that the analog baseband signal is sampled at the appropriate symbol times (as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,524). The data processor 68 applies the processed binary data, in the form of data bytes corresponding to the output of the television data source 30 shown in FIG. 4A, to a demultiplexer 70, which distributes the received data to a video processor 72 and to an audio processor 74, each of which includes appropriate decompression circuitry.

The data processor 68 is shown in more detail in FIG. 10. The binary symbols from the analog to digital converter 66 are applied to a data acquisition circuit 76 which generates the feedback signal for controlling the analog to digital converter 66. The data acquisition circuit 76 also generates the following signals which are available to all blocks of FIG. 10: a symbol clock signal, a frame synchronization (FSYNC) signal, a segment synchronization signal, an 8 times symbol clock signal, a byte clock signal, and an RS block start signal. The symbol clock signal has a frequency of about 14.14 MHZ for all VSB modes. The FSYNC signal used in the preferred embodiment is approximately 53.7 Hz. The frame synchronization code of the frame synchronization segment FS enables derivation of the FSYNC signal which coincides in time with the first data symbol of the data segment DS0 of each of the data frames 24.

The binary symbols from the analog to digital converter 66 (representing the amplitudes of the sampled analog signal from the VSB demodulator 64) are applied by the data acquisition circuit 76 to a comb filter 78 such as that shown above in FIG. 8. The comb filter 78, which is for an 8 MHZ channel, is explained later. A comb filter for a 6 MHZ channel is explained in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,975. (The comb filter disclosed in this patent has a twelve symbol delay and uses a subtracting combiner as opposed to the nine symbol delay and adding combiner of FIG. 8.) The output of the comb filter 78 is applied to a multilevel slicer 80 which converts the received symbols back to bits according to the chart of FIG. 4B. The multilevel slicer 80 couples the sliced values of the VSB mode ID (24 two-level symbols) in the frame synchronization segment FS of each data frame 24 to a VSB mode decoder 82, which detects the 24 bit VSB mode ID and develops a 3-bit VSB mode select signal. This VSB mode select signal identifies the VSB mode (M 16, 8, 8T, 4, or 2) of the received symbols in order to control the data acquisition circuit 76, the comb filter 78, the multilevel slicer 80, and a symbol to byte converter 84 during the remainder of the respective data frame 24.

The multilevel slicer 80, which includes a nine line output bus, is responsive to the VSB mode select signal for converting the binary signal, representing the symbol amplitudes, to their corresponding bit values. Thus, in the M=2 VSB mode, each binary symbol amplitude signal is converted to the corresponding 1-bit signal on one of the nine output lines; in the M=4 VSB mode, each binary symbol amplitude signal is converted to the corresponding 2-bit signal on two of the output lines; in the M=8 VSB mode, each binary symbol amplitude signal is converted to the corresponding 3-bit signal on three of the output lines; and, in the M=16 VSB mode, each binary symbol amplitude signal is converted to the corresponding 4-bit signal on four of the output lines. In all VSB modes, the multilevel slicer 80 does not output symbols from the frame synchronization segment. In the 8 VSBT mode, entire data segments are output, including data segment synchronization and priming symbols. In modes 2, 4, 8, and 16, only data symbols are output. The nine-line output of the multilevel slicer 80, together with the 3-bit VSB mode select signal from the VSB mode decoder 82 and the timing signals from data acquisition circuit 76, are coupled to the symbol to byte converter 84.

For the non-TCM modes, the symbol to byte converter 84 operates as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,631,645. For the 8 VSBT mode, the symbol to byte converter 84 operates as a Viterbi decoder/symbol deinterleaver as explained below and later in Part II. The output of the symbol to byte converter 84 supplies a byte deinterleaver 86 that, in turn, supplies an RS decoder 88. The symbol to byte converter 84 converts the input bits representing the received symbols into a series of 8-bit data bytes for each of the VSB modes. The byte deinterleaver 86 deinterleaves the convolutionally interleaved data bytes supplied by the symbol to byte converter 84, and the RS decoder 88 performs error correction on the deinterleaved data bytes.

For the 8 VSBT mode, the operation of the symbol to byte converter 84 in the receiver is explained below in connection with FIGS. 11-13 and in more detail in Part II. FIG. 11 shows an overview of the Viterbi decoding system within the symbol to byte converter 84. TCM encoded priming, segment sync, and data symbols are decoded in a nine way Viterbi decoder 90. The way in which a Viterbi decoder decodes TCM encoded signals is well known. The uncoded priming and segment synchronization symbols are removed from the decoded symbol stream by a priming and segment synchronization symbol stripper 92. A 9×4 symbol deinterleaver 94 is used to form the uncoded data symbols back into bytes. All operations are synchronized by symbol clock, frame synchronization, and segment sync.

The nine way Viterbi decoder 90 is shown in FIG. 12. The individual Viterbi decoders 90A-90I each may utilize the well know Viterbi decoding method. Input and output commutators 96 and 98 switch together on every symbol clock, under control of a switch controller 99 which operates in response to the symbol clock and frame sync. A decoder cycle is defined as a nine step sweep of both the input and output commutators 96 and 98. Both of the input and output commutators 96 and 98 are forced to their top positions by the frame synchronization signal. After nine data segments (836 cycles), the input and output commutators 96 and 98 will again be at their top positions coincident with the start of a segment. Because there are 288 data segments per data frame, and because 288/9=32, which is an integer, the input and output commutators 96 and 98 will be at their top position at the start of every subsequent data frame 24.

The nine way Viterbi decoder 90 outputs uncoded priming, segment sync, and data symbols. The symbol ordering into and out of the nine way Viterbi decoder 90 does not change and are indicated by the following symbols:

-   -   . . . S₀S₁S₂S₃0₀1₀2₀3₀4₀5₀6₀7₀8₀0₁2₁3₁. . .         206₂198₃199₃200₃201₃P₀P₁P₂P₃202₃203₃204₃205₃206₃. . .

At the output of the nine way Viterbi decoder 90, the priming and segment synchronization symbols are easily removed from the data stream by the priming and segment synchronization symbol stripper 92 of FIG. 11 by reference to the segment synchronization timing signal recovered in earlier parts of the receiver. At this point only uncoded interleaved data symbols remain as indicated by the following symbols:

-   -   . . . 0₀1₀2₀3₀4₀5₀6₀7₀8₀0₁1₁2₁3₁. . . 7₃8₃9₀10₀. . . 17₀9₁10₁. .         . 206₂198₃199₃200₃201₃202₃203₃204₃205₃206₃. . .

Symbol to byte conversion is achieved by the 9×4 symbol deinterleaver 94 which is shown in more detail in FIG. 13. Uncoded data symbols are input to the 9×4 symbol deinterleaver 94. An input commutator 100 steps one place for each data symbol. An output commutator 102 steps one place for each data byte, where each byte consists of four two-bit symbols.

A cycle for the 9×4 symbol deinterleaver 94 is defined as four nine-step sweeps of the input commutator 100 (which inputs a two bit data symbol at each step) followed by a nine step sweep of the output commutator 102 (which outputs a byte at each step). Thus, each cycle deinterleaves 36 symbols (nine complete bytes). There are 828/36=23 cycles per data segment and 288×23=6624 cycles per data frame. At the start of every data frame 24, both the input and output commutators 100 and 102 are forced to their top positions to begin the first cycle of the data segment. Because there are exactly 6624 cycles per data frame, the commutators will be at their top position at the start of every subsequent data frame. Therefore, a segment of data bytes output from the 9×4 symbol deinterleaver 94 is as follows:

-   -   [0₀0₁0₂0₃] [1₀1₁1₂1₃] [2₀2₁2₂2₃ ]. . . [206₀206₁206₂206₃]

As described earlier, the outputs of the symbol to byte converter 84 are applied to the byte deinterleaver 86. As will be explained in further detail hereinafter, the byte deinterleaver 86 deinterleaves the convolutionally interleaved data bytes received from the symbol to byte converter 84 using a minimum of memory.

As is well known, byte interleaving is done at the transmitter (see the convolutional data byte interleaver 34 of FIG. 4A) to spread contiguous data bytes apart from each other to help immunize the transmitted data from burst noise. In the receiver, the interleaved bytes must be deinterleaved to re-establish their original relationship prior to forward error correction. Thus, burst noise of some given time duration will corrupt only a limited number of bytes within an RS block of the deinterleaved data. These corrupted bytes can be corrected by the RS decoder 88 of the receiver (FIG. 10).

The interleaving algorithm used is selected in anticipation of the maximum expected burst noise duration at the fastest byte clock rate (i.e., corresponding to VSB mode M=16) to ensure that the RS decoder 88 is capable of error correcting the corrupted deinterleaved data bytes. Thus, as the maximum expected burst noise duration increases, the interleaving algorithm must spread contiguous data bytes farther apart. Alternatively, a more powerful RS code may be used, but this approach has the disadvantage of using more overhead, i.e., requiring more bytes for error correction. Also, by referencing the system to the highest byte clock rate (corresponding to 16 VSB), increased burst error protection will be provided as the VSB mode and the corresponding byte rate decrease, because the interleave pattern is effected over a given number of bytes regardless of VSB mode.

Convolutional interleave algorithms are commonly used to immunize transmitted data from burst noise. Such algorithms delay the individual bytes of successive groups of bytes, sometimes referred to as the interleave depth, by different amounts to effectively scatter the bytes over a portion or all of the data frame 24. Deinterleaving is effected by delaying the received bytes by opposite amounts. In implementing such a system, three parameters are of particular significance; the maximum expected burst length BL, the number of byte errors T which the RS decoder 88 can correct, and the RS block size.

As mentioned previously, there preferably are an integral number of RS blocks in the data frame 24 so that the RS decoder 88 can be synchronized by the frame synchronization signal FSYNC. By selecting an interleave group size (of which there are preferably an integral number in each frame) equal to a parameter B=BL/T and by selecting the different delays as integral multiples of a parameter N equal to or greater than the RS block size, the RS decoder 88 will be able to correct the deinterleaved data for burst noise up to the maximum expected duration of BL byte clocks.

Consider the simplified example of a system in which the maximum expected burst length is four data byte clocks and in which the RS decoder 88 is capable of correcting one data byte error in each eight data byte RS block (i.e., BL=4, T=1, N=8). Using these parameters, the interleave group size B=BL/T=4/1=4. Convolutional interleaving is performed using these parameters such that for each group of B=4 data bytes, the first data byte is exposed to a delay of 0, the second to a delay of 1N=8 data byte clocks, the third to a delay of 2N=16 data byte clocks, and the fourth to a delay of 3N=24 data byte clocks. Deinterleaving is effected by reversing the delays such that for each group of B=4 received interleaved data bytes, the first is delayed by 3N=24 data byte clocks, the second by 2N=16 data byte clocks, the third by 1N=8 data byte clocks, and the fourth by 0.

Conventional convolutional deinterleavers implementing the above algorithm comprise a memory having (B−1)N/2 memory locations. For realistic values of B and N, which are typically much larger than the values used in the simplified example given above, the conventional deinterleaver has a very complex architecture because of the large number of shift registers required. An alternate architecture which may be employed uses a standard linear memory array for which a large number of FIFO head and tail pointers must be maintained in hardware. This is a very complex task and thus highly undesirable.

These problems are solved in U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,532 by using a linear memory array with an address generator for generating a repeating sequence of read-write addresses that results in correctly deinterleaving the received data. The memory array is of a relatively small size utilizing only one memory location in excess of the number required to impose the different delays on the respective data bytes of each group. In the system described here, B=54, N=216, and M=4. As explained in U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,532, it is necessary that the number of data bytes per data frame be exactly divisible by B so that the deinterleaver address generator may use frame synchronization for synchronization. FIG. 3A shows that this is the case for all VSB modes.

Part II

FIG. 15 a, which is derived from a combination of Part I FIGS. 4 a and 5, generally illustrates a novel TCM transmitter. While the multilevel VSB digital application is contemplated in the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that the invention is more general in nature and, thus, may be applied to other types of transmission and reception systems, including lower resolution video systems as well as non-video based data systems. Also, other modulation techniques, such as those employing, for example, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), may be employed.

As shown in FIG. 15 a, a data source 110 provides a succession of data bytes which may, for example, comprise a compressed HDTV signal, a compressed television signal of standard definition, or any other digital data signal. As discussed below, the data bytes will be preferably, although not necessarily, arranged in successive frames as already described in Part I, where each frame includes one frame sync segment and 288 data segments. Each data segment comprises 836 two-bit symbols occurring at a symbol rate of about 14.14 Megasymbols/sec.

The data bytes from the data source 110, which also provides a plurality of timing signals, are applied to a Reed-Solomon encoder 112 for forward error correction coding and therefrom to a data byte interleaver 114. The data byte interleaver 114 reorders the data bytes to reduce the susceptibility of the system to burst noise, as discussed above.

The interleaved data bytes from the data byte interleaver 114 are applied to a data symbol interleaver 116 which provides, in a preferred embodiment, two output bit streams X₁, X₂ at the symbol rate, where each bit pair X₁, X₂ corresponds to a data symbol. In particular, the data symbol interleaver 116 is a 9×4=36 block interleaver (to be described in detail hereinafter) which interleaves the 828 two-bit data symbols of each data segment.

The stream of uncoded two-bit data symbols from the data symbol interleaver 116 are coupled to a priming (P) and segment sync (S) symbol inserter 118 (to be described in detail hereinafter) which inserts uncoded priming symbols and segment sync symbols at appropriate points in each data segment. The uncoded priming symbols, segment sync symbols, and data symbols are coupled to a nine way convolutional encoder 120 for conversion to three output bits per symbol as will be described in further detail hereinafter. A feedback path from the nine way convolutional encoder 120 to the priming and segment sync symbol inserter 118 provides a feedback signal which indicates the states of the convolutional encoders of the nine way convolutional encoder 120 and, as will be explained, affects the values of the inserted uncoded priming symbols and segment sync symbols. Because the nine way convolutional encoder 120 is characterized by a nine-symbol delay, it may be thought of as comprising nine parallel encoders each operating at 1/9 the symbol clock rate.

The stream of convolutionally encoded three bit symbols developed at the output of the nine way convolutional encoder 120 is applied to a symbol mapper 122 which maps each three bit symbol to a corresponding one of M amplitude or phase levels (where M=8 in this case). The TCM coded priming symbols, segment sync symbols, and data symbols from the symbol mapper 122 are fed to a frame formatter 124 and therefrom to a VSB modulator 126 for transmission as a plurality of eight-level symbols. A pilot may be added to the transmitted signal in order to offset the amplitude of each of the symbols by a predetermined amount.

FIG. 15 b represents a 8 VSBT (TCM encoder) receiver derived from a combination of Part I, FIGS. 9-11. The transmitted signal is received by a receiver including a tuner, demodulator, and A/D 128 corresponding to the tuner 16, the demodulator 18, and the A/D 20 of FIG. 1. The output of the tuner, demodulator, and A/D 128 comprises a stream of multibit eight-level symbols (e.g., eight to ten bits per symbol). A data acquisition unit 130 derives various clock and synchronization signals from the received symbol stream. These clock and synchronization signals include the symbol clock, the byte clock, a segment sync signal, and a frame sync signal. The output of the data acquisition unit 130 is coupled to a selector switch 134 a/134 b (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,793 for an exemplary embodiment of a circuit for operating a switch to a first processing path comprising a comb filter 132 and to a second processing path bypassing the comb filter 132). The output of the selector switch 134 a/134 b is coupled to a frame sync symbol discard unit 136 which discards the 836 symbols comprising the frame sync segment of each received data frame while allowing all the other symbols of the data frames (i.e., the TCM encoded priming symbols, segment sync symbols, and data symbols) to pass through to a nine way Viterbi decoder 138. The VSB mode decoder 82 is not shown in FIG. 15 b for convenience. However, it should be understood that the VSB mode ID, which may also be referred to herein as the VSB mode code, is detected from the frame sync segment before the frame sync symbol discard unit 136 discards the frame sync segment.

The output of the nine way Viterbi decoder 138 consists of the uncoded priming symbols, segment sync symbols, and data symbols. Accordingly, the output of the nine way Viterbi decoder 138 comprises reconstructions of the bit streams X₁ and X₂. The bit streams X₁ and X₂ are coupled to a priming symbol and segment sync symbol stripper 140 which discards the priming symbols and segment sync symbols, passing only the uncoded data symbols to a symbol deinterleaver 142. The symbol deinterleaver 142 reconstructs the original interleaved data bytes. These interleaved data bytes are then deinterleaved by a byte deinterleaver 144, and the deinterleaved data bytes are error corrected by a Reed-Solomon decoder 146 for application to the remainder of the receiver.

The TCM encoding process involves the data symbol interleaver 116, the priming and segment sync symbol inserter 118, the nine way convolutional encoder 120, and the symbol mapper 122 of FIG. 15 a. It is helpful to first describe the details of the nine way convolutional encoder 120 and the symbol mapper 122. FIG. 16 functionally shows the nine way convolutional encoder 120 (which is similar to FIG. 7 and which is repeated here for convenience). An input commutator 148 (i.e., demultiplexer) and an output commutator 150 (i.e., multiplexer) respectively switch on every symbol so that symbols separated by nine symbol intervals in the multiplexed stream are processed by the same one of the nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I.

FIG. 17 shows the details of a representative one of the identical nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I. The convolutional encoder of FIG. 17 consists of a precoder 152 and a trellis encoder 154. The precoder 152 comprises a summer and a one symbol delay Q₂ which precode an input bit X2 as an intermediate output bit Y2. The input bit X1 passes directly as an intermediate bit Y1. The trellis encoder 154 comprises a summer and two one symbol delays Q₀ and Q₁ which trellis encode the intermediate bits Y1 and Y2 as three bit convolutionally encoded symbols. The three bit convolutionally encoded symbols are coupled by the output commutator 564 to the symbol mapper 122 which in turn outputs symbols each having a corresponding level from −7 to +7. Accordingly, each of the nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I accepts two bit uncoded input symbols [X₂X₁] and outputs three bit convolutionally encoded symbols.

It should be understood that the nine way convolutional encoder of FIG. 16 with the nine individual encoders, each of which is shown in FIG. 17, can be equivalently represented by the single encoder of FIG. 18, where each of the delay elements Q₂, Q₁, and Q₀ represent a nine symbol delay. The method of FIGS. 16 and 17 is more useful for explaining the advantages of the system, especially with respect to the interaction of the comb filter and the Viterbi Decoder in the receiver (discussed later). However, the method of FIG. 18 may be better for building actual hardware. Both methods are exactly equivalent. For FIG. 18, it is noted that the state fed back to the priming and segment sync symbol inserter 118 consists of a single bit from each of the nine symbol delay elements Q₂, Q₁, and Q₀ (a total of three bits), those bits being the ones that have resided in each respective nine symbol delay element for the longest time.

The symbol mapping function implemented by the symbol mapper 122 is shown in detail in FIG. 19. This symbol mapping function is essentially the same as the mapping shown in the second column of FIG. 4B, except that for convenience the output level values have been divided by sixteen. This symbol mapping function relates each possible three bit convolutionally encoded symbol and its corresponding level of −7 to +7.

FIG. 20 is a state transition diagram for the representative convolutional encoder of FIG. 17 in combination with the symbol mapping function of FIG. 19. The states shown in each circle are decimal representations of the binary state [Q₂Q₁Q₀]. Each branch is labeled with the uncoded input symbol [X₁X₂] and the associated TCM coded output symbol level (−7 to +7) from the symbol mapper 122. For example, a branch, which has the uncoded input symbol [00] and the associated TCM coded output symbol level −7 and which starts in decimal state 2, transitions to decimal state 1.

The priming and segment sync symbol inserter 118 accepts a stream of uncoded data symbols from the data symbol interleaver 116 and inserts segment sync and priming symbols into the steam at appropriate points. The value of these inserted symbols, as will be explained, depends on the state of the particular convolutional encoder (one of 120A-120I) that the symbol will enter. Every data segment consists of four segment sync symbols followed by 823 data symbols followed by four priming symbols followed by five more data symbols, as described in Part I. The segment sync symbol pattern at the input to the frame formatter 124 must occur every 836 symbols and consists of the four TCM coded symbols [+5−5−5+5] at the output of the symbol mapper 122.

Each of these segment sync symbols will come at the proper time from a different one of the nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I in combination with the symbol mapper 122. In order for one of the nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I in combination with the symbol mapper 122 to output a +5 or −5 when required, that encoder must already be in a particular state. A priming symbol is provided to that one of the nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I in order to put it in a state so that it will, with the symbol mapper 122, output a +5 or −5 in response to the next uncoded input symbol. From FIG. 20, it can be seen that one of the nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I and the symbol mapper 122 can output +5 only if that particular convolutional encoder is in one of the states 0, 2, 4, or 6, and it can output −5 only if that convolutional encoder is in one of the states 1, 3, 5 or 7. FIG. 21 shows, for each encoder state, an uncoded input priming symbol and associated TCM coded output priming symbol, then the subsequent uncoded input segment sync symbol and associated TCM coded output segment sync symbol (±5).

It can be seen that a TCM coded segment sync symbol (±5) is always preceded by a priming symbol in the same one of the nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I. This arrangement results in each of the four TCM coded segment sync symbols [S₀S₁S₂S₃] in the multiplexed output stream being preceded by one of four TCM coded priming symbols [P₀P₁P₂P₃] such that each priming symbol is spaced nine symbols ahead of its corresponding segment sync symbol as shown by the following symbol pattern:

-   -   . . . xxxP₀P₁P₂P₃xxxxxS₀S₁S₂S₃xxx . . .         Thus, in order to generate the TCM coded segment sync waveform,         the priming and segment sync symbol inserter 118 must observe         the state of the appropriate one of the nine way convolutional         encoders 120A-120I and, based on the observed state, insert the         correct uncoded priming symbol and the correct uncoded segment         sync symbol as shown in FIG. 21. For example, if the nine way         convolutional encoder 120C is in the decimal state 2 and it is         necessary to output +5 for a particular segment sync symbol, the         uncoded priming symbol 01 followed by the uncoded segment sync         symbol 11 are inserted for the convolutional encoder 120C. The         receiver will use the TCM coded segment sync waveform pattern         for synchronization (this pattern is shown in U.S. Pat. No.         5,416,524), and will then discard the priming and segment sync         symbols after TCM decoding.

It should be noted that, in order to output a coded segment sync symbol S=+5, each of the eight possible initial TCM encoder states will result in an output of a different one of the eight possible coded priming symbols (P) prior to the coded segment sync symbol S=+5. Assuming that all the encoder states are equally probable, all eight coded priming symbols are equally probable. Therefore, the coded priming symbols P₀P₁P₂P₃ will be random. The same is true for coded priming symbols preceding a coded segment sync symbol S=−5.

The data symbol interleaver 116, which includes an input commutator 154 and an output commutator 156, is shown in FIG. 22 and is the same as the data symbol interleaver 42 shown in FIG. 6. The operation of the data symbol interleaver 116 is the same as described in Part I in connection with FIG. 6. As stated previously, the data bytes, which are composed of two bit symbols, are input to the data symbol interleaver 116 in the following order:

-   -   [0₀0₁0₂0₃] [1₀1₁1₂1₃] [2₀2₁2₂2₃ ]. . . [206₀206₁206₂206₃]         The data symbol interleaver 116 outputs data symbols in the         following order:     -   . . . 0₀1₀2₀3₀4₀5₀6₀7₀8₀0₁1₁2₁3₁ . . . 7₃8₃9₀10₀. . . 17₀9₁10₁.         . . 206₂19 8₃199₃200₃201₃202₃203₃204₃205₃206₃. . .

An overview of the operation of the nine way convolutional encoder 120 of FIG. 16 was discussed in Part I with reference to FIG. 7. As discussed in connection with FIG. 7, the input commutator 54 and the output commutator 56 of the nine way convolutional encoder 44 switch together on every symbol. A cycle may be defined as nine steps of the input and output commutators 54 and 56. If both the input and output commutators 54 and 56 are at the top position at the start of the first data segment of a data frame, then after nine segments (836 cycles), the input and output commutators 54 and 56 will again be at their top positions coincident with the start of a segment. Because there are 288 data segments per frame, and because 288/9=32, which is an integer, the input and output commutators 54 and 56 will be at their top position at the start of every subsequent data frame 24. This operation may facilitate hardware design in the transmitter and receiver. The symbol ordering into and out of the 9 way trellis encoder does not change. The operation of the arrangement of FIG. 16 is essentially the same. In either case, the symbol ordering is not changed by the nine way convolutional encoder 120. Accordingly, the symbol ordering out of the output commutator 150 of the nine way convolutional encoder 120 is the following:

-   -   . . . 0₁1₀2₀3₀4₀5₀6₀7₀8₀0₀1₁2₁3₁ . . . 7₃8₃9₀10₀. . .17₀9₁10₁. .         . 206₂19 8₃199₃200₃201₃P₀P₁P₂P₃202₃203₃204₃205₃206₃ . . .

The purpose of the data symbol interleaver 116 is to put the data symbols in an order so that those data symbols associated with a given byte pass through the same one of the nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I (and the same Viterbi decoder in the receiver). This “byte packing” has been found to be advantageous in suppressing certain impairments. If a given Viterbi decoder has an uncorrectable error, it tends to spread the error to subsequent symbols. If symbols from the same byte are packed into the same Viterbi decoder, fewer bytes on average are affected by the error spreading.

It should be noted that the insertion of the four priming symbols into the symbol steam will prevent proper “byte packing” for the last five data symbols of each data segment. This lack of proper byte packing is not statistically significant and should not measurably affect performance. The table of FIG. 23 shows how the symbols corresponding to particular bytes enter the nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I over a nine segment (836 cycle). span. Each nine symbol column shows which symbols enter the nine way convolutional encoders 120A-120I for one cycle.

The symbol mapper 122 outputs TCM encoded priming symbols, segment sync symbols, and data symbols to the frame formatter 124 which, as explained later, inserts a frame sync segment before every group of 288 data segments.

The symbol mapper 122 has two attributes of particular note. First, as shown by the mapping function of FIG. 19, the eight symbol levels are divided into four subsets a, b, c, and d, where each subset is identified by a particular state of the output bits Z₁Z₀. Thus, Z₁Z₀=00 selects symbol subset d, Z₁Z₀=01 selects symbol subset c, Z₁Z₀=10 selects symbol subset b, and Z₁Z₀=11 selects subset a. Within each subset, the respective symbol amplitudes differ by a magnitude of eight units. Second, successive symbol level pairs (−7, −5), (−3, −1), (+1, +3) and (+5, +7) are selected by common states of output bits Z₂ Z₁. Thus, for example, output bits Z₂Z₁=00 selects both symbol amplitude levels −7 and −5, and so on. Both of the foregoing attributes of the symbol mapper 122 are useful in achieving reduced receiver complexity as will be described in more detail hereinafter.

Accordingly, it should be noted that the output bits Z₁Z₀ can be used to select a symbol subset and the output bit Z₂ can be used to select a symbol of the selected subset. This arrangement has been described in relation to an 8 VSB system where the three bits Z₂Z₁Z₀ are used to select a subset and a symbol of the selected subset. This arrangement can be generalized where any number of bits Z_(N) can be used to select a subset and a symbol of the selected subset. In this case, the output bits Z₁Z₀ can be used to select a symbol subset and the output bit Z₂-Z_(N) can be used to select a symbol of the selected subset.

FIG. 25 is a state transition diagram for the trellis encoder 154 of FIG. 17 derived from the state transition table of FIG. 24. The state transition diagram of FIG. 25 and the state transition table of FIG. 24 illustrate the four states of the trellis encoder and the various transitions therebetween. In particular, each state has two parallel branches, with each branch extending to the same or another state. The branches are labeled with the input bits Y₂Y₁ causing the state transition and with the resulting output R of the symbol mapper 122. As will be explained in further detail hereinafter, this state diagram may be used to design an optimum maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) Viterbi decoder in the receiver for recovering estimations of the bits Y₂ and Y₁, as is well known in the art.

FIGS. 26, 27, and 28 illustrate the decoding aspects of the invention in more detail, with specific reference to the comb filter 132 and the nine way Viterbi decoder 138. As shown in FIG. 15 b, the eight level TCM encoded symbol values from the tuner, demodulator, and A/D 128 are applied to the data acquisition unit 130 which provides various synchronization signals and clocks to other portions of the receiver, as needed. The output of the data acquisition unit 130 is coupled to the selector switch 134 a/134 b which either feeds or bypasses the comb filter 132. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,793, the comb filter 132 may be switched into or out of the signal path (by the comb filter control signal in FIG. 15 b) in response to the presence of an interfering signal.

The comb filter 132, as shown in FIG. 26, is a feedforward filter including a linear summer 158 and a nine symbol delay element 160. The comb filter 132 converts the eight level symbols to fifteen level symbols. The comb filter 132 is operable to reduce PAL co-channel interference by adding, to each received symbol, the received symbol which occurs nine symbol intervals earlier. (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,975 for a fuller explanation of comb filtering.)

The output of the selector switch 134 a/134 b (the selector switch 134 a/134 b of FIG. 15 b is omitted from FIGS. 26, 27, and 28 for convenience) is coupled to the frame sync symbol discard unit 136 which intercepts and discards the 836 symbols of every frame sync segment. The remaining TCM encoded priming symbols, segment sync symbols, and data symbols are fed to the nine way Viterbi decoder 138.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,677 discloses that an N way TCM encoded symbol stream may be decoded by an N way Viterbi decoder, such as the nine way Viterbi decoder 138 in the receiver of FIG. 15 b. An N way Viterbi decoder is shown in FIGS. 26, 27, and 28, where N=9. It is further disclosed in this patent that Viterbi decoders in receivers may have two modes of operation controlled by the comb filter control signal, one mode for the first processing path with the comb filter 132 (FIGS. 26 and 27), and one mode where the comb filter 132 is bypassed (FIG. 28).

The combination of the comb filter 132 and the nine way Viterbi decoder 138 can be illustrated by the two equivalent circuits of FIGS. 26 and 27. Because of the nine symbol delay 160, the effect of the comb filter 132, which is located upstream of an input commutator 162 (i.e., demultiplexer) shown in FIG. 26, is equivalent to the nine comb filters 164A-164I which are located downstream of the input commutator 162 and which are shown in FIG. 27, where each of the comb filters 164A-164I has a summer 168 and a one symbol delay 170. Each of the comb filters 164A-164I feeds a corresponding one of nine Viterbi decoders 166A-166I. The equivalence of the circuits shown in FIGS. 26 and 27 is clear from the fact that, in both cases, symbols that are nine symbol intervals apart in the symbol stream are combined by the linear summers (158 or 168) in the comb filters (42 or 164A-164I). It should be understood that, while FIG. 26 represents a more likely hardware implementation, the equivalent circuit of FIG. 27 better illustrates the effect of the comb filter on Viterbi decoding.

As shown in FIG. 28, if the comb filter 132 is bypassed, then each of the Viterbi decoders 166A-166I within the nine way Viterbi decoder 138 is a four state optimal MLSE decoder whose output feeds a corresponding one of postcoders 174A-174I (which are discussed later). As shown in FIG. 27, if the comb filter 132 is switched in, each of the Viterbi decoders 166A-166I within the nine way Viterbi decoder 138 may be either a sixteen state optimal MLSE decoder whose output feeds a corresponding one of the postcoders 174A-174I (for convenience, the postcoders 174A-174I are not explicitly shown in FIG. 27) or an eight state suboptimal decoder with no postcoders. The increase in states from four to eight or sixteen states for each Viterbi decoder, as will be explained, is due to the effect of the comb filter 132.

The 836 frame sync symbols are intercepted and discarded in the frame sync symbol discard unit 136 and are not applied to the nine way Viterbi decoder 138. The remaining priming symbols, segment sync symbols, and data symbols are each applied to a respective one of the Viterbi decoders 166A-166I. It will be seen that most of the original data bytes from the data source 110 are processed as a unit by a respective one of the Viterbi decoders 166A-166I. For example, the data byte represented by the symbols [0₀0₁0₂0₃] are processed by the Viterbi decoder 166E (see FIG. 23). “Byte packing” in the receiver will match the byte packing in the transmitter shown in FIG. 23.

Consider first the case where the comb filter 132 is bypassed as shown in FIG. 28. Each of the optimal MLSE Viterbi decoders 166A-166I of FIG. 28 may comprise a substantially identical device operating at the rate of fs/9 (where fs is the symbol clock) and programmed according to the state diagram of FIG. 24 for effecting optimum MLSE Viterbi decoding in order to recover estimations of the bits Y₂ and Y₁ as is well known in the art. In particular, each of the optimal MLSE Viterbi decoders 166A-166I is programmed to generate four branch metrics, typically using an appropriately programmed ROM, each representing the difference between the received symbol level (e.g., an 8-10 bit digital value) and the closest one of the two subset levels of each of the symbol subsets a, b, c, and d.

In this case, FIG. 29 illustrates a Viterbi decoder manufactured by LSI Logic Corp. which may be programmed to perform the functions of each of the optimal MLSE Viterbi decoders 166A-166I of FIG. 28. The decoder shown in FIG. 29 comprises a branch metric generator ROM 180 which, in response to the received symbols, generates and applies four branch metrics to an add, compare and select (ACS) unit 182. The ACS unit 182 is bidirectionally coupled to a path metric storage memory 184 and also supplies a traceback memory 186. In general, the ACS unit 182 adds the branch metrics generated by the branch metric generator ROM 180 to the previous path metrics stored in the path metric storage memory 184 in order to generate new path metrics. The ACS unit 182 then compares the path metrics emanating from the same states, and selects the ones with the lowest path metrics for storage. The traceback memory 186, after a number of branches have been developed, is operable for selecting a surviving path and generating estimations of the bits Y₂ and Y₁ that would have produced the surviving path.

It will be recalled that, in the foregoing analysis, the effect of the precoder 152 on the input bit stream had been ignored. While the function of the precoder 152 will be described in further detail hereinafter, suffice it for now to recognize that the input bit X₂ differs from the bit Y₂ due to the operation of the precoder 152, which performs a modulo-2 operation. The output of each of the optimal MLSE Viterbi decoders 166A-166I shown in FIG. 28 comprises only an estimation of the bit Y₂, not the input bit X₂. Consequently, complementary modulo-2 postcoders 174A-174I are used in the receiver in order to recover estimations of the input bits X₁ and X₂ from the optimal MLSE Viterbi decoders 166A-166I, respectively.

Each of the postcoders 174A-174L comprises a direct path between the input bit Y₁ and the output bit X₁ and a feedforward circuit in which the output bit Y₂ is applied directly to one input of a modulo-2 adder 176 and to a second input of the modulo-2 adder 176 by way of a one-symbol delay element 178. The output of the modulo-2 adder 176 comprises an estimation of the input bit X₂. Finally, the decoded bits X₁, X₂ from the postcoders 174A-174I are multiplexed into an interleaved bit stream as shown in FIG. 28 by an output commutator 172.

In an alternate embodiment of the invention, each of the optimal MLSE Viterbi decoders 166A-166I of FIG. 28 may be replaced by a slicer 188, illustrated in FIG. 30, in order to provide a cost reduced receiver in cases where the received signal is characterized by a relatively high S/N ratio. This relatively high S/N ratio is frequently the case in cable transmissions which normally exhibit a better S/N ratio than terrestrial transmissions. A tradeoff is, therefore, made between TCM coding gain and receiver complexity and cost. As shown in FIG. 30, the slicer 188 is characterized by three slice levels (−4, 0 and +4). A received symbol having a level more negative than −4 will be decoded by the slicer 188 as bits Y₂Y₁=00, a level between −4 and 0 as bits Y₂Y₁=01, a level between 0 and +4 as bits Y₂Y₁=10, and a level more positive than +4 as bits Y₂Y₁=11.

As before, the bits Y₂Y₁ are converted to an estimation of the bits X₂X₁ by a respective one of the postcoders 174A-174I. As indicated by the mapping function shown in FIG. 19, it will be seen that the slicer 188 effects proper decoding of the received symbols because successive symbol levels are represented by common values of the bits Z₂Z₁, as previously mentioned. This embodiment of the invention therefore, in effect, implements a four-level transmission and reception system which provides an equivalent bit rate as the 8-level TCM system, but with worse S/N performance because the TCM coding gain is not realized.

Now the case of Viterbi decoding for symbols passing thru the comb filter 132 will be discussed. Although the comb filter 132 has the desired effect of reducing NTSC co-channel interference, it also increases the complexity of the optimal MLSE Viterbi decoders 166A-166I (e.g., see FIG. 27) where optimum MLSE Viterbi decoding is used to recover the bits X₁ and X₂. In particular, an optimum MLSE Viterbi decoder must take into account not only the state of the encoder, but also the state of the one symbol delay 170 of the particular comb filter 164A-164I coupled to it. Because there are four encoder states and four possible ways to enter each state (i.e., there are four possible states of the one symbol delay 170 for each state of the trellis encoder 154 of FIG. 17), an optimum decoder must process a sixteen state trellis. In addition, the decoder must account for four branches entering each state, whereas only two branches enter each encoder state without the comb filter 132.

Such a sixteen state decoder is illustrated in FIG. 31 and, while complex in nature, its design is relatively straight forward. In particular, while the functionality of the decoder is similar to that shown in FIG. 29 (the same reference numerals are therefore used), its complexity is greatly increased because fifteen branch metrics must be generated instead of just four. The branch metrics represent the difference between a received symbol level and each of the possible fifteen constellation points at the output of the comb filter 132 (i.e., the linear combination of the eight-level symbols provides fifteen possible output levels).

The table of FIG. 32 illustrates a technique according to the invention for reducing the complexity, and thereby the cost, of the Viterbi decoders 166A-166I used to recover the bits X₁ and X₂ from the output of the comb filters 164A-164I. This simplification, which is made possible by precoding the bit X₂ as shown in FIG. 17 (with the precoder 152), is achieved by ignoring some of the state information from the one symbol delay 170 of the particular comb filter 164A-164I coupled to the Viterbi decoder in constructing the trellis diagram forming the basis of the decoder. In particular, as will be explained in further detail below, the decoding simplification is achieved according to this aspect of the invention by considering only the information identifying the subsets (see the mapping function in FIG. 19) a, b, c, and d of the eight possible states of the one symbol delay 170 of a particular comb filter 164A-164I. If the output of the one symbol delay 170 is represented by the reference letter V, the combined state of the encoder and the comb filter can be represented as Q₁(n)Q₀(n)V₁V₀(n), where the subset V₁V₀(n) equals the subset Z₁Z₀(n−1). That is, the state of the one symbol delay 170 is represented by the subset of the previous symbol.

As shown in the table of FIG. 32, the first column represents the state of the combined encoder and comb filter (using only subset information to represent the state of the one symbol delay 170) Q₁Q₀V₁V₀ at time n. As shown, there are the following eight possible states: 0000, 0010, 0100, 0110, 1001, 1011, 1101, and 1111. In each of these states, Q₁=V₀. These eight states are derived from the last two columns of the table of FIG. 24 which gives the states Q₁Q₀ of the trellis encoder 154 and the associated V₁V₀ subset of the output V of the one symbol delay 170 of one of the comb filters 164A-164I (FIG. 27) at an arbitrary time (n+1). It will be noted that the V₁V₀ subset at time (n+1) is the same as the output bits Z₁Z₀ at time n (see the third column of the FIG. 24 table). Each state Q₁Q₀V₁V₀ of the combined encoder and comb filter is listed twice in the table of FIG. 32, once for each possible value of the input bit X₁ (see the third column of the table of FIG. 32). The fourth column of the table of FIG. 32 represents the subset Z₁Z₀ at time n for each encoder/channel state and for each value of the input bit X₁. These values are derived on the basis of the relationships Z₁=X₁ and Z₀=Q₀. Both the V₁V₀ subset in the first column of the table and the Z₁Z₀ subset in the fourth column of the table are identified by the subset identifiers (a-d) shown in the mapping function of FIG. 19 and in the second and fifth columns, respectively, of the table of FIG. 32.

The output of the linear summer 168 of each of the comb filters 164A-164I is applied to a corresponding one of the Viterbi decoders 166A-166I of FIG. 27. This output is identified in FIG. 32 by the letter U, and comprises the value of a received symbol plus the value of the previous symbol. The value of U is represented in the sixth column of the table of FIG. 32 as the sum of the Z subset Z₁Z₀ and the V subset V₁V₀ in terms of the subset identifiers (a-d). Thus, for example, the U subset sum at time n for the first row of the table is (d+d), for the second row (b+d), and so on.

In FIG. 33, the possible values of the U subset sums are derived by adding each V subset (a, b, c and d) to each Z subset (a, b, c and d). In particular, each possible Z subset is identified along the top of FIG. 33 by the darkened circles corresponding to the levels of the respective subsets. For example, the subset a comprises the levels −1 and +7 of the eight levels, the subset b comprises the levels −3 and +5, and so on. Likewise, each possible V subset is identified along the left-hand margin of FIG. 33. The results of adding each V subset to each Z subset in order to derive the U subset sums (U=Z+V) are shown in the interior of FIG. 33. For example, the U subset sum (a+a) (see the last row of the table of FIG. 32) is derived by adding the a subset levels −1 and +7 of the Z subset to the a subset levels −1 and +7 of the V subset, which gives the three levels +14, +6, and −2 as shown in the upper left-hand corner of the interior of FIG. 33. Similarly, the U subset sum (a+b) (see the 8th and 12th rows of the FIG. 32 table) is derived by adding the b subset levels −3 and +5 of the Z subset to the a subset levels −1 and +7 of the V subset, which gives the three levels +12, +4, and −4 as shown, and so on. If a pilot is added to the transmitted signal, the amplitude levels of the sets shown in FIG. 33 (and the cosets shown in FIG. 34 discussed below) are no longer symmetrical about zero level because the pilot offsets the amplitude of each of the symbols by a predetermined amount.

Examination of the sixteen U subset sums shown in FIG. 33 reveals that each belong to one of seven common subset sums hereinafter referred to as cosets. These seven cosets are shown in FIG. 34 and are identified as cosets A (U subset sums b+c and a+d), B1 (U subset sums c+c and b+d), B2 (U subset sum a+a), C1 (U subset sum c+d), C2 (U subset sum a+b), D1 (U subset sum d+d), and D2 (U subset sums b+b and a+c). The coset for each U subset sum is also shown in the 7th column of the table of FIG. 32. It will be observed that each coset comprises three of fifteen possible levels.

The final column of the table of FIG. 32, which corresponds to the last two columns of the table of FIG. 25, represents the state Q₁Q₀V₁V₀ of the encoder/comb filter at time (n+1). The first and last columns of this table can now be used to construct a trellis state transition diagram for the combined encoder/comb filter. This trellis state transition diagram is shown in FIG. 35 and is derived from FIG. 32. In FIG. 35, V₀ has been disregarded since it is redundant with Q₁. The trellis state transition diagram thus comprises eight states at time n, with two branches emanating from each state. Each branch is labeled with the input bit X₁ and the U coset A, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1 and D2 associated with the respective transition. The trellis diagram of FIG. 35 can now be used to provide the basis of a reduced complexity Viterbi decoder (for each of the Viterbi decoders 166A-166I) in order to estimate the input bit X₁ from the output U of the linear summer 168 of the one symbol delay equivalent comb filter 164A-164I.

This decoder, which comprises an alternate embodiment of the optimum Viterbi decoder of FIG. 31, may take the form of the Viterbi decoder illustrated in FIG. 36. The apparatus used to implement this Viterbi decoder may be similar to that used in the decoder of FIGS. 29 and 31 and thus comprises the branch metric generator ROM 180, the ACS unit 182, the path metric storage memory 184, and the traceback memory 186.

In the case of the decoder of FIG. 36, the branch metric generator ROM 180 is programmed to generate seven branch metrics each representing the squared Euclidean distance between the symbol level U at the output of the linear summer 168 of one of the comb filters 164A-164I and the nearest one of the three valid levels of each of the seven cosets A, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1 and D2. For example, assuming a level U=(−6), the seven branch metrics would be derived as follows: A=2²=4; B1=4²=16; B2=4²=16; C1=2²=4; C2=2²=4; D1=0; and, D2=0. Based on these branch metrics and the trellis diagram of FIG. 35, the decoder provides an estimation of the bit X₁ and the associated COSET identification, which are known from the surviving path decisions made by the decoder.

It is still, however, necessary to provide an estimation of the input bit X₂. This estimation may be made in response to the COSET information provided by the Viterbi decoder of FIG. 36. The ability to so estimate the bit X₂ is facilitated by providing the precoder 152 in the path of the input bit X₂ as shown in FIG. 17. In particular, it will be seen that the precoder 152 is configured such that, whenever the input bit X₂(n)=1, the corresponding output bit Y₂(n) of the precoder is different from the previous output bit Y₂(n−1). That is, if Y₂(n)æY₂(n−1), then X₂(n)=1. Also, if X₂(n)=0, then the corresponding output bit Y₂(n) will be equal to the previous output bit Y₂(n−1). That is, if Y₂(n)=Y₂(n−1), then X₂(n)=0. Moreover, with reference to the mapping function of FIG. 19, it will be observed that a positive level symbol is provided when Z₂ (i.e., Y₂)=1 and a negative level symbol is provided when Z₂=Y₂=0.

The foregoing characteristics are used to estimate the bit X₂ as shown in FIG. 37. The symbol level U at the output of the linear summers 168 of the comb filters 164A-164I is applied through a delay 192 (chosen to match the delay of the Viterbi decoders 166A-166I) to one input of a plurality (i.e., seven) of slicers 194. The COSET identification signal at the output of the Viterbi decoder 166A-166I is applied to the second input of the slicers 194. An estimation of the bit X₂ is developed by the slicers 194 by determining whether the U symbol level from the comb filters 164A-164I is closer to one of the outer levels (e.g., levels +8 or −8 of the coset A) of the coset A, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1 or D2 identified by the COSET identification signal from the respective Viterbi decoder 166A-166I, in which case the bit X₂ is decoded as a 1, or whether the U symbol level from the comb filters 164A-164I is closer to the intermediate level (e.g., level 0 of coset A) of the identified coset, in which case the bit X₂ is decoded as a 0. The foregoing description is based on the fact that the positive outer level of each of the cosets (e.g., +8 of coset A) results only when successive Y₂ bits at the output of the precoder 152 are characterized by the values Y₂(n)=1 and Y₂(n−1)=0, the negative outer level of each coset (e.g., −8 of coset A) results only when successive Y₂ bits have the values Y₂(n)=0 and Y₂(n−1)=1, and the intermediate level of each coset (e.g. 0 of coset A) results only when successive Y₂ bits have values Y₂(n)=1 and Y₂(n−1)=1 or Y₂(n)=0 and Y₂(n−1)=0. In these latter two cases, X₂(n)=0 (since Y₂(n)=Y₂(n−1)).

Finally, it will be understood that the inclusion of the precoder 152 (FIG. 17) in the path of the input bit X₂ requires the incorporation of a complementary postcoder 190 (FIG. 31) in the path of the estimated bit X₂ when a Viterbi decoder is used to process the output of the comb filter 132. A complementary postcoder is not required in the case of the circuit of FIG. 37 because the estimated bit X₂ is directly produced.

Reference is made again to FIG. 15 b and the nine way Viterbi decoder 138 now illustrated in FIG. 38 (which is similar to FIG. 12), where TCM encoded priming symbols, segment sync symbols, and data symbols are decoded. The output of the nine way Viterbi decoder 138 consists of uncoded priming symbols, segment sync symbols, and data symbols which are coupled to the priming symbol and segment sync symbol stripper 140. The priming symbol and segment sync symbol stripper 140 discards the uncoded priming symbols and segment sync symbols, passing only the uncoded data symbols to the symbol deinterleaver 142. The symbol deinterleaver 142 is a 9×4 block deinterleaver and is used to form the uncoded data symbols back into bytes. All operations are synchronized by the frame sync and the segment sync.

The timing for the nine way Viterbi decoder 138 of FIG. 38 was discussed in Part I with reference to FIG. 12. The symbol ordering into and out of the decoder 138 does not change. Accordingly, the decoder 138 outputs uncoded symbols in the following order:

-   -   . . . S₀S₁S₂S₃0₀1₀2₀3₀4₀5₀6₀7₀8₀0₁1₁2₁3₁. .         .206₂198₃199₃200₃201₃P₀P₁P₂P₃202₃203₃204₃205₃206₃ . . .         After removal of the uncoded priming symbols and the uncoded         segment sync symbols by the priming symbol and segment sync         symbol stripper 140 (which was discussed in Part I with         reference to the priming and segment synchronization symbol         stripper 92 of FIG. 11), the ordering is as follows:     -   . . . 0₀1₀2₀3₀4₀5₀6₀7₀8₀0₁1₁2₁3₁. . . 7₃8₃9₀10₀. . . 17₀9₁10₁. .         .206₂198₃199₃200₃201₃202₃203₃204₃205₃206₃ . . .

The symbol deinterleaver 142 is shown in FIG. 39, which includes an input commutator 200 and an output commutator 202. The operation of the symbol deinterleaver 142 was discussed in Part I with reference to the symbol deinterleaver 94 of FIG. 13. The symbol ordering out of the symbol deinterleaver 142 is as follows:

-   -   [0₀0₁0₂0₃] [1₀1₁1₂1₃] [2₀2₁2₂2₃]. . . [206₀206₁206₂206₃]

Up to this point it has only been stated that the frame sync segment is inserted into the symbol stream by the frame formatter 124 in the transmitter of FIG. 15 a and that the frame sync segment is discarded by the frame sync symbol discard unit 136 in the receiver of FIG. 15 b. The processing of the frame sync segment in the transmitter and receiver will now be discussed. The structure of the frame sync segment disclosed here is very similar to that discussed in the ATSC Digital Television Standard and U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,269. The frame sync segment is used by the receiver to determine the starting position of the data frame and to determine the VSB mode (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,528 and the discussion in Part I above) of the transmission. The frame sync segment consists of 836 symbols inserted into the symbol stream by the frame formatter 34 prior to every group of 288 data segments. As shown above, the frame sync segment structure is:

-   -   [S₀S₁S₂S₃] [ATSC PN sequences] [VSB mode] [unspecified symbols]         [P₀P₁P₂P₃ddddd]         [S₀S₁S₂S₃] are four two-level symbols comprising the +5−5−5 +5         segment sync waveform. The PN sequences are 700 two-level         symbols comprising the same PN sequences as in the ATSC Digital         Television Standard. The VSB mode coding comprises 24 two-level         symbols and has been described in Part I. The next 99 symbols         are two-level unspecified symbols. The last nine symbols of the         frame sync segment are eight-level symbols, [P₀P₁P₂P₃ddddd],         which are repeats of the last nine TCM coded symbols of the data         segment preceding the frame sync segment. There is no TCM or         Reed-Solomon coding of frame sync symbols. It should be noted         that the last nine frame sync symbols (repeat symbols) were         already TCM coded during the previous segment.

As shown in FIG. 26, the comb filter 132 accepts all symbols as inputs. The output of the comb filter 132 is discarded by the frame sync symbol discard unit 136 during the 836 symbol frame sync segment, and the input commutator 162 and the output commutator 172 do not switch. Due to the repeat symbols at the end of the frame sync segment, the first nine symbols of the first data segment following the frame sync segment are effectively combined by the comb filter 132 with the last nine symbols of the last data segment of the previous frame. In this way the comb filter 132 behaves as if the frame sync segment were not present so that the comb filter 132 operates only on symbols that were TCM encoded. This operation is required for the above described comb/Viterbi combination decoding to work properly.

The present invention has been described above with regard to VSB digital television systems. However, it should be recognized that the present invention may be used in other systems such as QAM and QPSK systems. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the invention is limited only as defined in the claims. 

1. A method of encoding data comprising: providing a first data stream containing data; modifying the first data stream based on the states of an encoder in order to provide a second data stream; and, using the encoder to encode the second data stream in order to provide an output, wherein at least a portion of the output has predetermined symbol values.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the modifying of the first data stream comprises adding priming symbols to the first data stream.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the adding of priming symbols comprises adding priming symbols based on the states of the encoder.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the using of the encoder to encode the second data stream comprises using a trellis encoder to trellis encode the second data stream.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the modifying of the first data stream comprises adding priming symbols to the first data stream.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the using of the encoder to encode the second data stream comprises using a precoder and a trellis encoder to encode the second data stream.
 7. A data encoding system comprising: a modifier arranged to receive a first data stream and to modify the first data stream so as to provide a second data stream; an encoder arranged to encode the second data stream in order to provide an output, wherein at least a portion of the output has predetermined symbol values; and, a feedback from the encode to the modifier, wherein the feedback provides encoder states to the modifier, and wherein the modifier modifies the first data stream based on the encoder states so as to facilitate the encoder in providing the portion of the output having the predetermined symbol values.
 8. The data encoding system of claim 7 wherein the modifier comprises a priming symbol inserter that is arranged to insert priming symbols into the first data stream.
 9. The data encoding system of claim 8 wherein the priming symbols are based on the states of the encoder.
 10. The data encoding system of claim 7 wherein the encoder comprises a trellis encoder that is arranged to trellis encode the second data stream.
 11. The data encoding system of claim 10 wherein the modifier comprises a priming symbol inserter that is arranged to insert priming symbols into the first data stream.
 12. The data encoding system of claim 7 wherein the encoder comprises a precoder and a trellis encoder.
 13. A data decoding system comprising: a receiver that receives a signal to be decoded, wherein the signal comprises an output of an encoder, wherein at least a portion of the output contains symbols having predetermined symbol values, wherein the encoder encodes second data to provide the output signal, and wherein the second data comprises first data modified based on the states of the encoder; and, a decoder that decodes the received signal.
 14. The data decoding system of claim 13 wherein the first data is modified by inserting symbols therein.
 15. The data encoding system of claim 14 wherein the inserted symbols are based on the states of the encoder.
 16. A method comprising: receiving a signal, wherein the signal comprises an output of an encoder, wherein at least a portion of the output contains symbols having predetermined symbol values, wherein the encoder encodes second data to provide the output signal, and wherein the second data comprises first data modified based on the states of the encoder; and, decoding the received signal.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein the first data is modified by inserting symbols therein.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein the inserted symbols are based on the states of the encoder.
 19. An electrical signal comprising first data some of which have predetermined symbol values, the first data resulting from (i) a modification of second data based on the states of an encoder in order to provide third data and (ii) an encoding of the third data by the encoder to provide the first data. 